TEXAS LEGISLATURE: Bills focus on gay rights

AUSTIN — Retired Marine Staff Sgt. Eric Alva said he was the first American wounded in the last war in Iraq, stepping on a land mine that led to the amputation of his leg. Now he said he fears for his ability to get a job.

"It doesn't matter that I'm a decorated veteran, or disabled, or Latino," Alva said. "I would be denied employment because I'm also a gay individual, and there are no laws to protect a gay individual such as myself."

Alva, a prominent LGBT advocate, gave his testimony Wednesday morning to the House Economic and Small Business Development Committee, where lawmakers laid out bills that would prohibit sexual orientation discrimination.

House Bill 238 from Rep. Michael Villarreal, D-San Antonio, and House Bill 1146 from Rep. Eric Johnson, D-Dallas, would both work to stop discrimination "on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity or expression" with regard to employment. The bills are identical, and the Texas Workforce Commission would enforce the measures as they would in matters of religious or racial discrimination.

"The reason why I work on this issue is because if somebody plays by the rules, shows up, gets the job done, they should be treated just like anybody else, based on their productivity," Villarreal said.

Villarreal testified that about 430,000 workers identify themselves as LGBT in Texas, and that 21 other states and Washington, D.C. have policies for against discrimination based on sexual identity. Austin, Fort Worth, Dallas, San Antonio, Houston, El Paso and other cities also prohibit such discrimination.

Proponents of the bills also made the case that the protection would be good for Texas business.

"We hear all the time about Texas being a great place to do business ... there is a perception about Texas that we are not as progressive on issues like this," Johnson said. "The existence of a law like this would send a message. ... We're interested in protecting the rights of everyone."

About 90 percent of Fortune 500 companies have policies against discrimination based on sexual identity, and many of the tech and film companies that Gov. Rick Perry wants to lure to Texas from out of state also have those policies, said Chuck Smith, the executive director for the LGBT rights group Equality Texas.

Johnson said the bills wouldn't hurt the hiring processes of religious institutions of their schools. The bill doesn't provide for civil liabilities or employment preference, Villarreal said.

"This legislation will only improve upon that status and increase our competitive edge," Smith said.

The bill has been considered in committee before but did not move to the House floor last session. The bill was considered two sessions ago but did not get a committee hearing at all.

"I believe each session we make more ground," Villarreal told the committee. The bills have been left pending.

The Senate has already considered a bill that officially decriminalizes homosexual conduct. The bill passed unanimously out of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee. That bill, SB 538 from Sen. José Rodríguez, D-El Paso, would put Texas in sync with the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled in a 2003 case Lawrence vs. Texas that the state's penal code is unconstitutional.

Justice Clarence Thomas said in his opinion, "the law before the Court today is uncommonly silly if I were a member of the Texas Legislature, I would vote to repeal it," a Senate analysis of the bill states.